StlRecruiting

Background Checks Vendor: Guardian Testing

I use Joe from Guardian Testing for my background checks. He was recommended to me on Twitter, and he's exactly what you need if you're doing checks on your candidates or employees.  This is an unpaid endorsement.

1) Joe, can you tell me a little bit about your company and what you do? No marketing speak is allowed for this question.

Guardian Testing Services is a full service drug testing and background check company specializing in pre-employment screening of candidates in both regulated and non regulated industries.  

2) Background checks used to take me a week and cost $100 ?  Is that still the case?  And does it matter based on how many counties they lived in?

Generally, background check results will be available within 24-48 hours unless there are charges that are uncovered which were not disclosed during the application process requiring verification for accuracy.  The cost can range anywhere from $19 - $150 based on the level of checks required, but 90% of the searches we conduct for our clients range between $49 -$69.

Why Recruiters Should Use VOIP

I'm at a WiFi hot spot right now.  My phone has spotty coverage, and I can't really take business calls, but that's okay - I have Vonage.

Franki and I went for Vonage two years ago when our cellphones didn't work so hot in the condo and we wanted to have free calling for clients.  It worked very well, with the occasional problem of not being able to  upload on files and talk on the phone at the same time.  Okay, that was kind of annoying - but free calling to Canada and the US made it all worthwhile, and those problems have resolved themselves.

Not bad for $30 a month.

We moved into an office in November, and picked up a land line.  It's like $60, and I don't even give the number out.  Instead, I forwarded my Vonage account - thus letting me keep the same business number, and making no difference for the caller when I'm at home or work.  But that's not the real benefit.  The vonage dashboard is.  I track all of my calls and voicemails online.  I can call-forward, Simulring (phone rings at two places at the same time), transfer, conference call, and more, all through my online dashboard.

What this means is that I'm connected and can login to see who has called me and what they're saying.

Even if you don't go for VOIP, I highly recommend getting a VOIP account, and making that your primary number.  The advantages of managing your phone system online are too big to ignore (are you listening, AT&T?).  Vonage is what I use, and if you do sign up, make sure to add me as a referrer so we both get 2 months of free service.   My referrer code is 3144855480. 

This was an unpaid endorsement, made because I was checking my voicemail online and haven't blogged in a few days.

Small Businesses: Three Steps to Integrate Internships to Develop Candidates for Future

The following is a Recruiting Blogswap guest post from Tahjia Chapman.

Small businesses can leverage the recruitment process by integrating successful internship programs into their companies. The process is simple:  develop an internship outline with objectives, provide students with career related experience, and recognize students whom excel within the program. The list is quite short, but the most innovative internships withhold these three necessities.

Small businesses can use an internship to create a funnel of talented recruiters for future employment with their company. Develop a program with learning objectives. The first step to integrating a successful internship is by developing a program with learning objectives.  While planning, the company must address its needs by surveying current staff of strengths and weaknesses. The survey will pinpoint aspects of the small business that needs improvement through human resource’s recruiting efforts. The best way to outline learning objectives (or milestones) is by evaluating the staff in each department of the small business. Without an understanding what the small business needs, the recruiting process may become blurred.

AT&T DSL Service

I'm down here at our new office, alternating between working and scrubbing the floor to get rid of the paint spills (we had paper down, but nobody's perfect).  AT&T told me they would be here between the hours and 8 and 5 to install DSL, so I brought laptop with an EVDO card and have been waiting, terrified someone would show and I would miss them.

Cue the jokes. 

Wait. That's not what this is about.  I just got a call (and an e-mail) from the technician, telling me he was on the way.  I've never had that happen before.  And I also found out I get free AT&T WIFI hotspots with the DSL package.  And when I called, they were able to track my account quickly and give me the info I needed.

Color me impressed.  In fact, I like it so much that I would recommend it to any business owner.

I have but two complaints, or rather suggestions.

1) The AT&T website doesn't give me easy access to phone numbers - even to buy.  I'm a child of the internet, but I'm much more comfortable calling then ordering service online.  At least on the phone, I can ask if there are problems.  I'd be worried about picking up a service package and then getting locked into it, based on past experience with phone companies.  Seriously, when it takes me a while to find phone numbers, the average online customer is going to be lost.  You need a big button with a number, on each page.

2) I think it's great that you call, but you could have let me know that you were going to call. I didn't have to be here all day, and if I didn't have EVDO, I'd be in trouble. I would have lost a whole day.  be more forceful. Don't tel me 8-5. Tell me you'll call me ahead of time. 

Otherwise, good job AT&T DSL/phone service.  And your truck just arrived.

2)

Getting Service From Monopolies and Near-Monopolies

It turns out the AT&T website was down yesterday.  I talked with a very nice lady today (people are always nice when they are signing you up for something).  It worked out okay - I'm paying about $104 after taxes for phone, unlimited long distance, and DSL up to 3 megs, but I can't help but think I'm overpaying.  Charter never called me back, so I don't know what they would have charged.

And the sad part is I have to keep paying for Vonage, because I can't transfer that number to my new office.  Incompatible switches in Creve Coeur and Ladue.  So now I have to forward the Vonage phone  from the  home office to the office office.  Luckily, I can do that online.  Let me tell you something.  If the world made sense, AT&T would buy Vonage, scrap their website, and let you navigate your account like Vonage does.  I can change service plans, turn features like call forwarding and call waiting on and off, look at and pay my bill, download voicemails to play on the desktop, and forward referrals to a friend to make $25.  It's easy, simple, and if it weren't for the fact that the reliability is somewhat sketchy (rumor unchecked says it's because Charter slows down the Vonage packets), I'd never leave Vonage.

But it does, and I can't afford to miss phone calls or have my voice fade in and out when Franki's online.  So there it is.

I then went to the Ameren and Laclede websites (local electric and gas companies).  Ameren had a form online to fill out for service, but the form was broken.  I informed the nice lady on the phone that it was, but forget to tell her the phone numbers for Ameren aren't posted anywhere convenient to call in.

Laclede put me on hold for 8 minutes, so I hung up.

It's amazing how difficult it is to get companies to accept your money.  At least today, everyone was polite about it.

I'm Trying To Get To The AT&T Website To Buy DSL

The AT&T website is down.  I can't get to the site to buy DSL service.  It reminds me of the time that A&W was out of rootbeer.   We're moving to a new office in Ladue, and we need us some internet.

Anyone else nervous about my ability to get online?  Charter might be an option, but they don't know if they have service in Ladue.  No one has called me back. Originally, I talked to a Charter Rep in another state, but they said they couldn't help me, and someone local would call me back in 24-48 hours.  We're going on 96. hours.

We have Vonage, which we've been happy about, but too many people are complaining about VOIP (rumor has it that Charter slows down the Vonage packets) fading in and out when we're online.   So we were going to switch, but no one wants our business.

And so our internet access and phone bill is about to go up $30, without free long distance.  Do you know what really stinks?  With Vonage, I don't get phone calls from telemarketers.  No one has the number except my credit card companies (who call to offer stuff, but rarely).  The second I get a business line, salesmen are going to start calling thinking I need to buy a postage meter, or legal, or any of a dozen other things that a business our size simply can't use.  And we don't quality for the Do Not Call list.

A pox on all their houses.  And on Congress, for being such spineless twits to the telecom lobbyists.  You guys do know that we just stopped paying the Spanish American War tax on phone service, right?

Finally, Someone Kills Off Office Birthday Parties

Nothing is worse for office morale than an office birthday party.  Rounding you up from the work you're supposed to do, chipper people instruct us to gather around the breakroom for a special occasion, namely Bill's, Sally's, Caitlyn's birthday cake unveiling.

Ugh.  Unlike sundaes, coffee, and beer, birthday cake's mix of lard-based frosting and pure sugar puts you to sleep, or rather a coma, about fifteen minutes after ingesting two pieces of sugared birthday goodness.

But no more, corporate America.  No more torture.  No - it's not a ruling handed down by OSHA - it's the new insurance regulations. If you eat the birthday cake - your insurance premiums are going up.

That's right.  Unhealthy people, including those who smoke, are obese, or have high cholesterol, are no longer going to get a free ride on the backs of the Tofu-eaters.

While many employers have been using financial incentives to encourage participation in wellness programs, one company will begin charging employees more for their health insurance in 2009 if they allow health risks such as tobacco use, obesity or high cholesterol to go unchecked.

It's all part of the new rules - and you have to figure that if companies on private insurance are starting to pull these stunts, government is next.  Free healthcare, as long as you don't eat Twinkies.  Sounds like a campaign slogan for someone.

The company, Clarian Health in Indiana, is instituting a $5 per paycheck fine for people who fail to meet certain health standards.

The program will assess $5 per-paycheck fees on employees who do not meet minimum standards for body mass index, cholesterol, blood glucose, blood pressure and nonuse of tobacco. Although it will not be fully implemented until 2009, the effort was announced this year to give employees plenty of warning, Wantz says.

Personally, I'd laugh at them, and stuff my face with oreos and pork fat.  But then again, I've always been a little bit of a rebel.

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Find San Francisco jobs at SanFranJobs.com.

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Don't Hire US Workers Says PA Law Firm

MNHeadhunter has an unbelievable video - as in - you won't believe it when you see it.

A Pennsylvania law firm, Cohen and Grigsby, gave a presentation in a marketing seminar where they taught US companies how to disqualify US workers from jobs so they could hire H1-B workers for cheaper rates.

You heard that right.  First - watch the video, which came from Slashdot.

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Next, take a good look at the number of H1-B workers in your local companies here in St Louis. 
Ask yourself if your company could be so low, so disloyal, that they woud voluntarily disqualify talented US workers to get a cheaper rate.

Cohen and Grigsby can't be the only ambulance-chasers pulling this on the American worker.  If you have any information on this going on in St Louis, send a confidential e-mail via that link on the right hand side.

And if you're an immigration lawyer, feel free to send me a note defending the practice - if you can.

Despicable.  I say we deport the Cohen and Grisby lawyers.

And one last thing.  If we're going to make it a practice to bring back indentured servitude, can we drop the high and mighty rhetoric about immigration being good for the country?  The people who are the worst treated in this situation are the H1-B workers themselves, who are paid less than they are worth on the open market, locked into their jobs without hope of moving for fear of losing their employment status, and also put in a position where they are intensely disliked by American workers because the companies are using them to squeeze down wages.

There is supposed to be a law that H1-B workers are paid the market rate, which means no cutting wages.  I wonder if the attorneys at Cohen and Grisby can be caught cheating on that requirement. 

Outsourcing Your Own Job

There is a lot of anger in the tech community about the outsourcing of jobs to India.  Developers and help-desk reps find themselves increasingly marginalized by profit-hungry corporations whose biggest cost is, roll drums please, labor costs.

But not everyone is taking it sitting down. This could be an urban legend, but Wired reports on a a tech who decided to reap the benefits of outsourcing by cutting out the middle man.

Did you hear the one about the programmer who outsourced his own job? I read about it on Slashdot.org, the "news for nerds" Web site. A pseudonymous poster wrote, "About a year ago I hired a developer in India to do my job. I pay him $12,000 to do the job I get paid $67,000 for. He's happy to have the work. I'm happy that I only have to work 90 minutes a day, talking code. My employer thinks I'm telecommuting. Now I'm considering getting a second job and doing the same thing."

Of course this isn't a mass movement.  If it's even happening, it will quickly be squelched, as advertising it will lead to the loss of the job by the clever consultant.

But still - God Bless American Ingenuity, eh?

The Salesman/Entrepreneur/Pharmaceutical Rep's Car

The best ideas are always the one where you hear it and think, how come no one has done that before?"  Business Pundit uncovers one, asking why the car-bound mobile professional doesn't have their own type of car.  The post covers an interview in Businessweek of Clayton Christensen, the author of The Innovator's Dilemma.

There are about 30 million Americans for whom [a car] serves as their office. Isn't it interesting that nobody has designed a car to work as an office? They pull up to Starbucks (SBUX) and go in to use their T-Mobile hot spot or if they're in Silicon Valley they'll pull up next to someone's apartment building to mooch off their Wi-Fi because they can't access the Internet in their car.

They stop at a stoplight, their notebook computer falls onto the floor. They can't recharge their computer because the electrical system was not designed to do it and there's no docking station. They throw sales literature in the backseats. Nobody's designed a car to do that job. If you understand the job, the opportunities to differentiate are just extraordinary.

For years, the standard sales car was the Ford Taurus.  I still have mine, in large part because when a former boss told me to go out and buy a sales car, I thought a Taurus would do the trick. Not too flashy, so they wouldn't complain about the bill rates, but not too cheap, so they wouldn't think you were a bad salesman.

In uncovering this section of the market, Christensen shows that 30 million people might be tempted to buy a car that provided room for four to sit comfortable, trunk accessories for sales materials, wireless capability, and spaces for laptops, rechargers, and a work space.  I would have jumped all over that car because it's usefulness would outweigh the premium.

And car makers - it's not too late.  It worked for Mary Kay, it will work for you.